A chef who was fired from a restaurant in Brisbane had
several times refused to put pineapple on a pizza on the grounds that he
was Italian and Italian culture would be horrified by pineapple pizzas.
Well, if we were all able to follow our particular cultural
beliefs rather than the customs of the country we live in, it would cause
havoc. A chef could refuse to use meat because she was a vegetarian, or refuse
to use pork because she was Jewish. Where would it end?
Presumably another chef stepped in and added the
controversial pineapple. In which case the refusal was a bit pointless.
I think of the old saying “When in Rome do as the Romans
do.” Exactly. You should fall in with the local practices wherever you can
(obviously as long as it’s legal). It’s disrespectful and arrogant not to.
Not that I fancy a pineapple pizza myself. Or a grape or
banana or satsuma pizza for that matter. Perhaps I should be adventurous and try
a pineapple pizza some time. You never know, I might love it.
